Grade Inflation: Are High Schools Setting Students Up for a Jolt?

Alberta teacher Mike Tachynski, a high school science teacher at Edmonton’s Ross Sheppard High School, is a brave soul. In late January 2017, he had the courage to speak up publicly about the critical, but largely buried, issue of grade inflation in Canadian high schools. It was just one more indication that the province of Alberta, once the bastion of higher graduation expectations, was falling more into line with other ‘soft on standards’ provinces.

In the three minutes Tachynski was allotted to address the Edmonton Public Schools elected board, on January 31, 2017, he demonstrated that Alberta was not immune to the disease of grade inflation. Moving away from weighing final exams at 50 per cent of the final Grade 12 subject mark was already contributing to ‘grade inflation’ leading to irregularities in grades that unfairly favoured some students over others. “Inflated grades create a lose-lose situation,” Tachynski told the board. Students whose teachers are presenting more rigorous challenges may understand the material better, but have a lower grade on their transcript. On the other hand, he said students with ‘artificially high grades’ may flounder when admitted to college and university programs.

The provincial data for June 2016, published in the Edmonton Journal, supported Tachynski’s claim. Some 96 per cent of students were awarded a passing grade in Math 30-1 by their teachers, but only 71 per cent of those who took the diploma exam passed the test — a gap of 25 percentage points. For Chemistry 30, it was 15 percentage points. Going back to 2008, the gaps in pass rates between teacher-marks and diploma exam results had grown in five of 12 subjects over the span of nine years.

What’s shocking about Alberta’s slide in standards is that, as recently as November 2011, Maclean’s Magazine had hailed that province as having Canada’s best education system based upon the standards of its graduating students. Based upon a 2011 University of Saskatchewan admission study of 12,000 first-year university student grades, Alberta high school graduates dropped only 6.4 points, compared to as much as 19.6 points for students from other provinces. It was attributed, at the time, to Alberta’s policy of basing 50 per cent of the final grades on diploma exam marks.

Grade inflation has been identified as a major concern since the early 1980s in most school systems in the English-speaking world. In 2009, Durham University in the U.K. studied the phenomenon and concluded that an ‘A’ grade was now roughly equivalent to a ‘C’ grade in 1980. Ten years ago, forty per cent of Ontario high school graduates were leaving with an ‘A’ average, eight times as many as in the more conventional British system. In Alberta at that time, it was only 20 per cent, in large part because of compulsory exams in the core subjects.

Former Alberta school administrator Jim Dueck has recently written about the internal struggle during the early 2000s to maintain the province’s more rigorous standards. “Superintendents were loathe to undertake any action to ameliorate the problem,” he wrote in his 2014 book, Education’s Flashpoints.“Large-scale testing was contentious and acknowledging the significantly different results was thought to be inflamatory and likely lead to a backlash among union members, which at the time included principals.”

Co-author of the much discussed 2008 book Ivory Tower Blues,James Côté, a Western University sociology professor, insists that grade inflation ultimately hurts students. “It starts in high school. Giving higher grades is one way to reward kids fairly easily, boost their self-esteem and stop them from dropping out,” Côté said. “That’s the mandate our high schools are facing: lowering the dropout rate.” That’s why, he added, 60 per cent of students applying to university had an A average by 2008 and the mark ranges were compressed so much that it had “reached a point of crisis.”

High school grade inflation is now rampant in school systems right across Canada. Out east, the problem was first flagged in a May 2007 AIMS study focusing on the enormous gaps in New Brunswick and Newfoundland/Labrador between assigned class marks and diploma exam marks. In November of 2011, the University of Calgary’s Dean of Arts blew the whistle on the alarming extent of Ontario grade inflation. “There’s an arm’s race of A’s going on, ” he told the Calgary Herald. Since Nova Scotia moved its provincial exams from Grade 12 to Grade 10in June 2012, that province’s graduation rates have skyrocketed from 88.6 per cent to 92.5 per cent in 2014-15.

Students are well aware of the impact of high school grade inflation, especially when they take a real hit in their first set of university grades. It is, according to a former President of the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, Zane Schwartz, a balloon that’s ready to pop. “Until there is standardization, ” he wrote in a March 2013 Toronto Globe and Mail opinion column,” high-achieving students will keep being told they’re brilliant, low achieving students will keep getting pushed from grade to grade, and students grades will drop when they reach university.” We can, he added, do more to “reign in rampant grade inflation and better prepare students for university environment.” To date, it is my understanding, little has been done to act upon that level-headed student advice.

Why has grade inflation become so rampant in most Canadian high schools? How much of the pressure for higher marks comes from university-bound students and their parents? Why have provincial authorities, one after another, either abandoned Grade 12 provincial exams or devalued them in the determination of graduation marks? Is there a graceful way out of the current predicament?

53 Responses

I teach a graduate course on classroom assessment and we explore this issue.
The issue is most relevant for students in senior high classes going to university or community colleges.
Here are 5 directions to investigate.
– Bring back provincial departmental exams for senior year. Provinces like BC got ride of them for cost reasons. I would also ask how well do results in such exams predict college or university success?
– Bring in measures like SATs or ACTs. They also cost. I would again ask how well do results in such exams predict college or university success?
– Have more university involvement in working with- NOT IMPOSING- high school faculty on curriculum standards. Literacy and numeracy would be areas to focus on. A couple of decades ago the Peel School District had a project with the local university in which students wrote their senior essays in history which were marked by their high school teachers according to the “perceived” standard and also by university faculty who marked by a “perceived” standard for first year courses. Grades would be compared and discussed with senior students
– Have more senior courses in IB and AP geared to specific university “standards”. Faculty training in these courses is very good, especially in assessment practices. Research seems strong that even if students begin such courses, struggle, then drop back to regular courses, they do better in their regular courses.
– Invite high school grads, as I used to do, back to talk to seniors early in the senior year about the “demands” in university and college. For example,one demand is the increased reading workload in many arts courses.

A century ago universities were very different places with a tiny minority of students attending. That is not the case today. We are not kicking out 3/4s of the undergrads to return to those “good old days-die guten alten Zeit- so we need to find ways to step it up.

Excellent suggestions, John. As. You know, I have only taught mostly Grades 7and 8 and never high school, but have long been keenly interested in interpreting curriculum expectations and standards for achievement, and using assessment to help students understand and work towards those learning goals and help me to teach effectively. Your comments are insightful, coming from your years of experience with assessment and high school curricula and instruction, and you make really valid suggestions for ways to address the issue of grade inflation and the challenges students face in first year university and college. I thought the one about high school teachers and university profs marking and discussing student papers would be such a good idea, for both parties.

I would agree with these points John. There is something amiss though with some IB courses now being offered at schools. I’m a fan of IB and AP courses BTW, however i was dismayed to learn that many are now embracing the more holistic, student centred approach which is an anathema to better student learning. This means then that they are starting to move away from their original mandate about offering more rigorous, university style courses and adopt a more watered down brand for their students.

I think we can look at your solutions and eliminate departmental or exit exams, SAT ACT tests, even more IB AP courses. This leaves us looking at better prep for grade 12 kids. We had a system. It was called grade 13. The kids were a little older and a bit more prepared. We killed it to save $$$. Bad idea but also highly unlikely to be revisited.

Rejecting all of these we are all left doing our best with grade 11-12 and muddling through.

Great suggestions, John. The “Good Old Days,” as you point out, aren’t good enough anymore– because so many promising students were so poorly served by the system. This is one of your best contributions to our Blog and what the commentaries are meant to spark. You have come up with concrete proposals to rectify the situation and each of your constructive proposals is worth considering.

Good comments John. You hold issue with the SAT because they cost and they may not predict college performance. But there’s two much larger reasons against.

First, they are really just tests of READING skill. 20% of our students are dyslexic, and we give them accommodations, supports, and simplified curriculums instead of attacking and repairing their reading deficits. These students get extra time on the SAT but it makes almost no difference and they do very badly.

Second, the SAT is a measure of SES. Below is a link to a NYTimes article on how a poor kid was able to rock the SAT by practicing and studying for it. But read it the other way – how this approach is normal for the wealthy and unknown for the poor. The SAT entrenches privilege.

Since the vast majority of high school students moving on to university and college either pass or drop out I fail to see the problem. Apparently we have been molly coddling students since Plato.

Departmental were eliminated in the late 1960s. The number of Ontario scholars immediately jumped to double or triple the number. Yes marks were lower in ghe past but so was acceptance. After 2 years in grade 13 I had a 72% average and was accepted at 8 Ontario universities. In university I never earned a single mark below A. The difference was studying history and political science all day not math physics French.

Teachers will give the marks to all the kids they believe can handle university no matter how high the university raises the bar.

If the universities don’t like it they can impose entrance exams. The Deans of education in BC all rejected BC standardized tests for university entrance.

If we believe we are sending too many to university why are they all passing?

If we would rather they go to college make college free.

To me it looks like a non problem looking for a solution.

Just like eater seeking it’s own level, if we made it harder to get higher marks, universities would lower their entrance mark.

Some people want to exclude people from higher education who want to attend and might graduate.

Where do I begin . . .?
My post hinted at the larger picture and some useful directions. If you want comprehensive analysis, I do not have time to do this now. There are several national projects going on looking at this.
Are we wasting effort, and money, on programs that do not fit students?
Countries that make college free tend to be highly exclusive.
What are the best futures for all of our high school graduates?
Are 20% of students really dyslexic?
Ironic that the SAT was considered to be a democratizing force to allow poor kids to access higher ed.
The 2 reasons for my -ve view of SATs are sufficient. The other reasons while true only add to the list, not forward the discussion
etc. etc.
If you want change, fix things, not blame. Do what you can a step at a time
If you want to undue a century of history or bring on the revolution, invent a time machine or a machine that takes you to another plane of reality.

Even the industrial revolution took a century, Christianity 3 centuries, the scientific revolution 2+ and the computer revolution is still ongoing after half a century.

I don’t see so called grade inflation as a problem. We are making excellent progress. We are up to about 60% post secondary completion . One of the best in the world if not the best. We are #1 in PISA OECD Reading and high in science and math.

To some people that means we are too easy. They seem to want more people excluded.

Why? We put them in college and university at higher numbers of course but they pass in university.

Grades are a problem if they do not match the achievement they advertise.
Validity is a central concept in assessment.
As for pass and achievement levels
– Canada consistently does well internationally
– we do better than the US and UK
– we can always improve
– suggesting we can rest on our laurels is a recipe for a fall- maybe not today or tomorrow but someday

Remember in the 1970s Finland and South Korea were very different than they are now.
The Brits rested on their laurels and that empire is gone.

on the other hand, we should not promote false fears about schools
– Soviet superiority in the 1950s
– Japanese superiority in the 1980s

Funny, my cousins in Germany certainly don’t see it that way. In many regions of the country, kids are streamed at the age of 11 based on test results. If they change their focus, back to school they go for more training. Every type of job requires massive schooling: working in a bakery, waitress, factory or office. Their university system cannot be compared to ours; completely different philosophy exists between the 2..

Well I’m not a fan of streaming BUT …at least in Germany workers are well paid and respected so trade do not carry the same stigma. Finland also free tuition. France small admin fee. Many nations can afford it. NY state next. Ontario starting the ball rolling.

Most people in Germany have a worse lifestyle than we do in Canada. Most families cannot afford to live on one income, usually both parents working, and many have 2 jobs – each…just to pay the rent. The wealthy of course do not have this problem, for the regular German, their life is much more bleak. They do not have the same freedom in their schooling that we enjoy here, and any time they want a change in careers, they must attend compulsory schooling for more training. Kids spend much longer days at school, no time for extracurriculars, and not nearly as many choices as our kids have here. Comparing my own kids’ experience vs. their cousins who are the same age…no comparison. And that’s my German cousins saying that. Reality there is much different.

There are a few who do get to enjoy the benefits of their subsidized schooling, but by and large, it certainly is no model for success for the general population.

Sadly, once again we are off topic.
To return to the topic at hand . . .
While I would argue that grading at the local level with any degree of consistency, called “reliability” in the field, is far from satisfactory- hence a feature of Paul’s original post…
– being reliable on things more than memory is a challenge, especially in high school when a teacher may have 150+ students to assess
– and, despite what some might wish, grades are largely supported by parents so they are not going away
even though
– employers and now even colleges and some universities are looking for evidence of achievement beyond gradable areas, such as the Ontario’s “learning skills”.

Somehow parents seem to think that marking and grading ought to be a science with laser like accuracy. Everyone does their best and attend many workshops on grading.

Nevertheless it looks a lot more like grading Olympic figure skating. If a skated falls the mark will be low or does a series of triple axils it will be high but how low or how high. The judges are all seasoned experts but the spread can be wide.

Notwithstanding all of this, teacher’s grades have been demonstrated to more accurately predict success in the future than standardized tests including SAT or ACT.

Teacher grade on their own ot good enough for a reliability standard
but
teacher judgement has been better than old departmental exams as predictors of college and university success.
a 6th suggestion I make and did early in my teaching career
– teachers do some collaborative marking (mediated marking) until they agree on the standard; rubrics help here but are not sufficient if teachers do their own thing and have interpretations that vary too greatly
– how wide the spread?
– since grading is in part a matter of “professional judgment” this requires some work; work in which I have participated and identified a process for doing it reasonably well (published in 2004 in the UK)

Grading ought to be BETTER
since this is the biggest cause of conflict between schools and communities.
So teachers need to document their grading processes and make sure that parents do not ask
“Why does teacher A give a C when teacher B gives an A for the same work?”
and this still happens way to often.

Beyond a certain variation grade difference is UNACCEPTABLE. One reason the public likes standardized tests is that they do not rust teacher grades.That is what my last 2 posts offer suggestions to hone professional judgement.
Professional judgement is not a recipe for “anything goes”.

It`s the appraisal of content Doug..not opinion-kids are allowed any opinion but can they provide one?
I test kids frequently on their literacy processing abilities,if you can`t spell and parse a sentence and can barely read-that`s my field-you`ll crash in First Year-they should know that before going in,not play a game where sweep them under the rug by not testing anyone so nobody knows.

You`ll get the stats you want Doug re high school graduates but the student will fail,the University will me taxed with the expense of lengthy remediation and the student will be completely overwhelmed. He may self medicate,feel guilty and of course he will drop out or become mentally ill.

It`s all connected. I can see clearly that Canada is getting away with a big charade.
Great article Paul.

Next year the University of Toronto has raised its cut off mark to get into its downtown St George campus in arts and humanities to 88.5%.

I can guarantee you this. Students who last year had an 86% average will next year have an 89% average. The universities raise the bar, the high schools raise the marks.

The first high schools that choose to raise the marks BTW will be the private schools. If they can’t get their kids into the best universities in Canada
( UT McGill and UBC top 100 world rankings) parents will take their kids elsewhere.

The only answer might be some form of Grade 11 standardized examination – so marks can be submitted in time for the university application deadline. My view is that it should be cost-shared and perhaps a condition of acceptance at colleges and universities. A former University Admissions Director gave me the idea a week or so ago while discussing this little commentary.

Why do we need an answer? I don’t see that there is a problem. Standardized tests as a condition of admittance will start a war. BC had noting but problems. The universities largely rejected them. SAT and ACT are not predictive of university success.

People need to get one thing clear. Universities WANT TO ADMIT more students. Parents WANT THEIR CHILD ADMITTED. University profs WANT more jobs, job security and promotions to ever bigger departments. University presidents WANT their university to grow.

I cannot understand the reform instinct to restrict university entrance. Many students drop out eventually or go to community college. They self select by ability or work ethic.

We are fruitlessly serving for solution which are themselves in search of a non existent problem.

You seem to have accepted that First Year University is the new Grade 9, Doug. Some of us deplore this – and still believe in “higher education” for some and educational options for everyone. Take Finland, for example,. Students are prepared for the next stage in their own college/career cohorts.

My latest Commentary in today’s Halifax Chronicle Herald takes a deeper dive into the impact of suspending Grade 12 examinations here in Nova Scotia. Its just a case study of what happens when graduation year exams are ended. I included the Grade 11 examination proposal at the end.

Cost sharing-that could work,both sides should be interested but I`m wondering if the high school side is…working in the dark has led to quite a mess,will they want it exposed?
With the messes basically created in the early years,I have tremendous compassion for high school teachers,they are often facing a class where the performance disparity is staggering.

I see higher and higher % of students attending university as ‘democratization”.

If the numbers are limited it will be heavily white and upper middle class. When I taught at York in the 1990s I was stunned to see the multiracial and cross class student body compared to upgrading courses I had taken there in the 1970s. A Great Leap Forward.

Mayor Emmanuel of Chicago Democrat and Governor Kasich of Ohio are contemplating “graduation confitions” Emmanuel insists that to graduate a student must have a college acceptance a military acceptance or job.

Idiotic

It is being both mocked by educators and heavily criticized by parents.

Not only do grades have to mean something
but
differentiation needs to mean something
101 levels (0-100) not meaningful
3 – 5 levels
better,
depending on the nature of the task
in athletics more levels are easier since performances is more easily
quantified
even then
it can be complex since we often need to consider
consistency
rather than 1-shot efforts

I haven’t seen (or perhaps missed seeing it) any comments or discussion on the “creeping” nature of grade inflation from elementary grades to post-graduate degree institutions..

I believe mark inflation actually started in the late1960’s and early 70″s in elementary grades. This “grade inflation” was reflected in the “class average grades” eventially rising to 80-90%, which realistically is nonsensical, High schools at the time were still using the “old marking system”, thus the dropout and failure rate was extremely high.

As an example, I graduated from Grade 12 in 1971 with an average of 74%, which was the second overall highest mark in all Grade 12 classes in the high school. (To put this into context, the high school I attended had about 1500 students and was rated as one of the top high school in Ontario at the time). The class average was 64%.

As a further example, the high school I attended was initially made up of 15 grade 9 classes (alphabetically from ” form A” (supposedly the top students to “form S”. By the time I graduated from Grade 12 there were 10 classes remaining, and in Grade 13 only six. This “crises” led to most high schools moving towards “grade inflation” to sustain funding and answer the public backlash.

Starting in the late 1980,s colleges and universities had to move in this direction to maintain funding. and the increasing demand by the public that “everyone should have access to a university/college education.”

When I graduated from university in the early 1980’s the percentage of the population with a university degree was about 15%. The drop-out rate was horrendous. I believe the rate is now about 50%.

With “grade inflation” embedded across the education system, it is an “expectation” by most parents that their child will receive an “A”. Very few parents, however, realize that similar to monetary inflation, the “A” on their child’s report card is really equivalent to the “C” of 40 years ago.

All the new (or re-invented) educational theories are only trying to re-establish core learning and knowledge levels and at the same time accepting that grade inflation is a social environmental “given”.

Does my old second place graduation average of 74% (when compared to the second place “average” in current grade 12 classes in high schools of 98%) have any meaning?

I (something I usually try to avoid) will wager that within 10 years any attempt to “grade” a student will be abolished and the system of pitting one student against another will be trashed and replaced with something so new and unique no-one has even thought of it yet.